August 10, 2022 7:00am EDT

AFT union promotes method for teachers to help kids change their pronouns without parents knowing

The American Federation of Teachers union also included ‘two-spirit’ as a gender identity

By Hannah Grossman | Fox News
The American Federation of Teachers promoted the use of a pronoun card which included a question of whether the student wanted their parents to know about their pronouns, Fox News Digital has learned. 

The AFT’s “Share My Lesson” website promoted using the cards in an “all” grade levels section, such as middle school. “Something as simple as a Student Introduction Card could make a student feel seen and affirmed,” the lesson, by the AFT’s Vision and Mission of the Identity Affirming Classroom Team, said.

The “Introduction Card” asked whether the student wanted their pronouns used when calling the student’s parents. 

“Can I call you this name outside of class?” the card said. “May I use these pronouns when calling home?”

I-ACT “believes an equitable learning community must engage and nurture authentic, inclusive relationships that cultivate student identity… [and] affirm the whole person.” 

In a list of LGBTQ+ vocabulary, the I-ACT included “two-spirited” as a gender identity and said it means a “mixed-gender consciousness that results from being born with both a male and female soul; people with two spirits inhabiting one body through a continuum of gender identity variations and attractions.”

“Gender pronouns, while not always stagnant throughout the year, can be equally important to a student’s identity as the pronunciation of names, language of origin, race, or nationality,” I-ACT said.

“The harsh reality is that language can be an act of oppression or an act of resistance. When marginalized groups experience oppression in the classroom through misgendering, not only can it be difficult to feel safe enough to learn, but sometimes it can also be reflected in the suicide rates of young people.”

The AFT also published an article in June on “AFT Voices” about the pronoun cards. Amber Chandler, who is a president of a union affiliate of the AFT, said, “It is still not the norm in my middle school to ask the simple question: Which pronouns do you prefer?”

AFT President Randi Weingarten  (Getty Images/Getty Images for Supermajority)

“I’m embarrassed to say that I did not ask that question on the survey I gave students and families at the beginning of this school year, but I plan to add that for next year,” she said. 

“Years ago, I quit assuming that my students’ parents were necessarily the people raising them, and I decided to go with ‘family’ or ‘cheerleaders’ or ‘supporters.’ It has made a world of difference for the people whose nontraditional family structures were always left out. I believe that asking for pronouns is going to do the same thing.”

Fox News Digital reached out for comment from AFT but did not immediately receive a response.